Busy, busy …

While it was certainly tempting to crawl into a well-heated cave and hibernate until Spring during our recent deep freeze I was, instead, taking advantage of some of the many things Toronto has to offer.

Yes, with the exception of only a few breathtakingly cold days cocooned at home, wrapped in a blanket, I bundled up in multiple layers of sweaters, scarves, hats, gloves and down-filled coats, braved the sub-zero temperatures and enjoyed some great films and an assortment of terrific breakfasts, lunches and dinners with family, friends and former colleagues (some of whom I haven’t seen in years and years). And I’ve got more booked — lunches and dinners, documentaries, author talks, a lecture and an art exhibit — enough to take me through to the end of May — by which time I am hoping the weather will have dramatically improved. Although in Canada, one never knows.

Saw a wonderful documentary last month on Sammy Davis Jr, which was followed by a very interesting discussion. It’s part of a series I’ve subscribed to — Doc Soup Sundays. It’s a film a month, on a Sunday morning for five months. That was the first. Docs and conversations on Elena Ferrante, Vincent Van Gogh, Beethoven’s hair and the world’s greatest art museums make up the balance.

Also going to see another documentary on the world’s greatest “starchitects” and one on Zubin Mehta, who was briefly the conductor of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra when I lived there. And then, also through Hot Docs, not a movie but a conversation with Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun), who has two new books on Italy coming out.

And I’m really looking forward to seeing both Anderson Cooper and the Femmes Noires exhibit at the AGO (Art Gallery of Toronto). And next week there’s the launch of a former colleague’s second book on design thinking.

That should keep me out of trouble for a while. Not to mention away from the News. Donald Who????